Student pointed BB gun in teacher's face, principal says

A Bolingbrook High School freshman put a BB gun in the face of his math teacher this morning, prompting a short lockdown of the school, Principal Michael White said this afternoon.

The incident happened at about 8:30 a.m. during a math class, White said.

The boy had been asking the teacher for a grade change before he pointed the BB gun point-blank at the teacher’s face, White said. The gun appeared to be a real firearm and the student believed it fired bullets, not BBs, White said. "The student did believe it was real," he said.

The boy fled the classroom and White and other staffers found him in a bathroom where he was holding the gun to his neck as if he were going to shoot himself, White said.

"He didn’t say anything,” White said. “Had had (the BB gun) up to his neck.

“I was asking him if he really wanted to do this,” White said. “This is something you can’t take back.”

White said he talked the student into putting down the gun and authorities apprehended him.

White said the event, from the student pointing the gun at a teacher to the lockdown and the student’s apprehension, took about six minutes.

The two teachers in the classroom were shook up and went home and crisis teams were set up for students and staff, White said.

“We went on with school as usual, but there were some kids who were shook up,” he said.

White said he did not know where the student got the BB gun.

Bolingbrook police said only that the incident was under investigation and declined to provide further comment.

Valley View school district spokesman Larry Randa said parents received an automated call this morning about the incident.

White said school officials are looking at acquiring metal detectors and reviewing other ways to prevent such a situation from happening again, but Randa said the district is not reconsidering security measures at the school.